You might ask why. Reeves, whose dry wit belies his wet-behind-the-ears age, says in the video: "It's an age-old question, is there a God? What is the meaning of life? And can I have a robot that recognizes my face and shoots me with lasers in the eyeball?"

I contacted Reeves to ask if he's OK (physically, I mean).

"My eyes are fine," he told me. "A lot of people seem concerned about that, which I admit is warranted. I used a 5-MW laser diode, and never had it in my vision for more than a fraction of a second."

He gave me more explanation of his motivations.

More Technically Incorrect

"I really like the concept of object recognition and machine learning," he said. "And this method of computer vision uses a type of machine learning for object recognition, so it was perfect for me. But as for why I implemented it in a way that shines a laser into eyes, I can't be sure of what I was thinking."

Did I mention he's 19?

He's currently studying at Northern Arizona University, but told me he'll be leaving after this semester. Yes, of course he studies computer science. He's going to focus, he says, on his software development career.

"I work as a programmer and contractor for a couple of institutions, but my main focus is my company that I own and manage along with a few friends," he said.

It's his enterprise in self-immolation that's fascinated YouTube, where almost 160,000 people have enjoyed his video in just two days.

Please don't try this anywhere though.

Lasers annoy pilots, rock stars and your eyeballs.

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